Old Jewish men don't run

Luke 15:1-2- Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

Catch the tone of their ‘muttering’- it is not as observation, it is an accusation. It is one of outrage, condemnation and contempt. They are speaking out of the overflow of a hard heart towards the lost- one that finds it completely unacceptable that Jesus would socialize with lost sinners and receive them as friends.

Jesus responds by telling 3 parables to teach them and us about the Kingdom of God; the third of which being the famous ‘Parable of the Lost Son’. In this parable, the elder son represents these religious leaders.

Luke 15:11-16- Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. (that’s sin and rebellion- where we turn our back and God and separate ourselves from him). After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. (What a fall from grace for a Jewish boy to covet pig's food- sin leads to slavery and bondage) When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.'

Luke 11:20- ‘’So he got up and went to his father …’’

That repentance- that we turn away from sin and our slavery to sin and go to the Father.

But how will the Father, whom we have sinned against, receive us?

Luke 11:20- ‘’…But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.’’

Now, a little cultural nuance here- it is considered outrageous and shameful in Jewish culture for an older Jewish man to run.

This from the commentary on this parable from Kenneth Bailey, a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem-

‘’The prodigal son is on his way back home! What can he expect from the people of the village? They will mock him, laugh at him, scorn him. The children will throw stones at him or spit at him. Some will turn their backs. This young man who brought so much shame on his family will never again find his place in the village. But suddenly the people of the village see something totally unexpected. The father who was so scorned by his younger son, does something himself that will make him a laughingstock. He picks up his garment and runs! He is making a fool of himself. That is unheard of for a man his age in that culture. Now the children will mock him, too! And so these two, father and son, come together, both objects of scorn, back into the village. The father was willing to sacrifice his own honor, so that his son would not have to come home alone in disgrace.’’

So when the father runs, this is outrageous, humble, impressions-be-damned grace extended towards undeserving sinners like us.

Luke 15:21-24 "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

Now, here the older son enters the parable;

Luke 15:25-30- "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. (that is precisely the attitude demonstrated by the muttering religious leaders) So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders (that’s what a religious attitude will do- it will turn this loving father into a slave-driver and his loving guidance into grievous orders in your eyes) Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends (as if the father owed him something). But when this son of yours (notice that he does not say ‘this brother of mine’) who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

The tragedy is when a lost son turns from sin and slavery and comes to the church or to the Christian, where they should be greeted by outrageous, humble, impressions-be-damned grace extended towards undeserving sinners by undeserving sinners and instead they meet the condemning, contemptuous, hard-hearted religious elder sons.

This elder son lived in the Father’s house, by the Father’s rules, but never knew the Father’s heart- which rejoices for His son that ‘was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'

And he is deceived, and deceiving, if he is professing to not be lost, but be found, and to know the Father- He is a liar.

1 John 4:19-21- We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

How does God feel about this attitude? God is angry and deeply grieved by the hard-hearted, merciless attitude of the religious who look at the lost with contempt. Let me show you this in Scripture- remembering that Jesus is the exact representation of God’s being.

Mark 3:1-5- Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone." Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

If we love God, we must love others- we must share His heart for the lost and reach out to them on His behalf. And when one lost sinner repents, and turns their back on sin and comes home, heaven shakes with delight.

Luke 15:3-7- Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

So, this says something of the ‘attribution of value in heaven’- and therefore what we should value on earth, in the church.Jesus loves the 99. He cares for the 99. He rejoices in the 99. He does not neglect the 99. But He will not rest while one of His lost sheep, called by His name, is lost.

I love serving a God that refuses to cut His losses.

And when He finds that 1 wayward, rebellious, lost person, and puts them on His shoulders, the shoulders that bore their sin, to carry them home- the Bible says ‘that heaven rejoices’.And hopefully, we as the 99 will not only rejoice with Him, but we will involve ourselves in His search and rescue effort as we have been commanded.

Dividing Pride, Uniting Humility

If you’re new to the Gospels, the disciples, though they had unparalleled first-hand access to Jesus, got it completely wrong a lot of the time because they were ordinary, fallen people like you and I. We ought to find that encouraging because we are often the same way- despite walking with Jesus, being in His presence, hearing His words, we have an astounding capacity to get Him and His way completely wrong sometimes.

I love that Jesus perseveres with us despite us.

Mark 10:35- Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask."

What an astonishing statement of sinful pride- ‘God, I want you to do for me whatever I want’ In pride, whether we express it or not, that is our view of God- that He exists for us. Wrong. We exist for Him. We ought to do for Him whatever He asks.

Jesus probes-

Mark 10:36-37- "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory."

What we see in motion here is a pride-fuelled power-play from James and John to gain a position elevated above the other disciples. They covet a position of prominence and glory. They are, in effect, grasping at equality with God.

This, in reality, is a complete contrast to the attitude of Jesus, which His disciples are to emulate. Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus, though ‘being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant’. Pride covets the position of Jesus rather than the person of Jesus. It sees Jesus as a means to an end, rather than ‘glorifying Him’ the chief end. It desires Jesus for what He can do for us, rather than for Himself.

James and John momentarily fell into the snare of foolish, sinful pride.

In verse. 41, we see that when the disciples heard about the power play of James and John, they were indignant with them. An argument broke out among them, as to who was the greatest. That’s what pride does; it divides, one against the other

In the Corinthian church, they were essentially having the same argument; which teacher was the greatest? Look at this;

1 Corinthians 1:11-13- My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?

1 Corinthians 3:4-5- For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

Humility is happy for Jesus to get all of the glory. Pride wants a share it does not deserve. Paul labored for the church and demanded none of the glory for it.

Paul concludes;

1 Corinthians 3:21-23- So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

and in;

1 Corinthians 4:7- ‘’….What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

Humility recognizes that everything it has is a gift from God and therefore there is no basis for them to boast, except to ‘boast in the Lord’. And that attitude unites people where pride divides.

It says in verse. 41- ‘So Jesus called them together…’

Then, in verse. 42, he says;

Mark 10:42-44- …"You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

Jesus is in no way anti-authority. Jesus did and Jesus does institute authority among us in His church, and the Bible tells us in Hebrews that we are to ‘obey those leaders and submit to their authority’.But the difference between a proud shepherd and a humble shepherd is that a proud shepherd uses the authority that they have been given to be serve themselves; a humble shepherd uses the authority that they have been given to serve others.

The church needs humble shepherds who will be examples to them in the way that they love and serve Jesus and others and lead the way in humility. The world needs humble Christians who will be examples to them in they love and serve Jesus and others and lead the way in humility.

We all have good reason and a great commission to humble ourselves.

Let’s conclude with verse. 45;

Mark 10:45- For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

He came, not to be served. He came to give his life a ransom for many. Think about this act of humility. Let’s consider that this act of giving his life as a ransom was intentional. It says that ‘he came to do it’. He came to die.

Look back a few verses in Mark 10:32-34-

Mark 10:32-34-They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. "We are going up to Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise."

So Jesus is knowingly walking into the jaws of suffering and death because He came to give his life a ransom for many. He is choosing to suffer; He is choosing to die; to ransom us from sin and death.